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My understanding is that they are *not* natural pearls, cultivated or otherwise. By cultivated, I assume you mean that they put an irritant into an oyster to persuade it to form a pearl. I've always thought Majorca pearls are made of pearl "stuff" -- dust maybe? -- but they are formed by humans, not an oyster.

They are not real Henda, hence the price. They make them by dipping a "seed" in a sort of liquid made of ground up mother of pearl. The allow it to dry and then dip it again and again and again until you end up with a bead of solid mother of pearl. They are definitely not cheap imitations in the sense that cheap imitations are usually a glass ball covered with a layer of pearlized paint. Look carefully at the label; genuine majorica pearls are also copied by poor imitations. They tend to have a similar sounding name and a similar red label.

Henda,Lesley has given you a perfect answer to your question-I wasn't sure how they were actually produced. I've bought lots of necklaces, bracelets and ear rings for friends, and I usually end up purchasing them at the El Corte Ingles dept. stores in Spain, which always have a good selection in pearl, blue-ish grey and dark grey shades, and I know I'll be buying the genuine Majorica brand that I can take back to the store or send to the co. if the clasp breaks, etc. And the El Corte Ingles has the "if you're not satisfied we'll refund your money" policy plus an easy vat refund procedure. The ones I've bought for friends have had a 14k gold clasp and haven't been particularly "cheap", although certainly far less expensive than the ones sold in the US at Neiman Marcus. Yes, beware of cheap imitations and insist on the real Majorica brand.

I bought some earrings on a British Airways flight several years ago. One came off its setting and I sent it back to the company for repair since there was a "lifetime guarantee". Unfortunately the pearl came off again and I lost it. So I question the quality of workmanship, if not the quality of the pearls.